HACKENSACK — The Bergen County prosecutor is calling for public hearings on the county's options for police consolidation, after a task force issued a report advising against the elimination of the Bergen County Police Department.

Speaking at a public hearing on his office's budget, which had been delayed while the Bergen County Law Enforcement Consolidation Task Force completed its study, Prosecutor John L. Molinelli on Tuesday urged the freeholders to convene a hearing with all of the stakeholders in order to clear up confusion.

The findings of the task force, which reject the major recommendations of a consolidation study that had been previously financed by the Prosector's office, came up frequently in Tuesday's budget hearing. Molinelli's office paid Guidepost Solutions $630,000 for their study, which was completed in 2011 and recommended eliminating the county police or consolidating many of its functions with other departments.

Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan then convened the task force to examine the study's findings, a move that was criticized by Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino for having a "predisposed outcome" to protect the county police department.

After several months of study, the task force released its findings last week.

Freeholder Maura R. DeNicola, a Republican from Mahwah and member of the task force, said at the hearing that the Guidepost numbers were problematic in that they did not take into account the 2 percent tax cap signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie in 2010, which created financial constraints for municipal police departments.

The prosecutor disagreed.

"I think the numbers in the Guidepost report are still valid numbers," Molinelli said. "I think they need to be addressed, I think the opinions in the Creamer report need to be addressed and I think it needs to be done quickly."

Molinelli said that because of the "animosity" surrounding the issue, he would prefer to discuss it in a public forum with representatives from Guidepost, county government and county law enforcement. He said public clashes over consolidation has left the rank and file of county police uncertain about their future.

"They're good cops, and they're going through a tough time because of the unknown," Molinelli said. "And that's why you get rid of the unknown and put it all out there."

Freeholder Robert Hermansen, a Mahwah Republican and chair of the law and public safety committee, said he supported an "open forum, absolutely with the public."

"What we have to do is, we have to digest it," Hermansen said. "Everything has to be looked at."

Freeholder David Ganz, a Fair Lawn Democrat who said he supported the call for public hearings, asked Molinelli if he supported putting law enforcement consolidation up for a vote.

"That's a very good question that I'm not going to answer," Molinelli said. "Because that's a question for all of you."

"I think the public is the last stakeholder," Molinelli told NJ.com after the hearing, adding that his office had not yet made a final payment of $160,000 to Guidepost out of the total $630,000 owed.

"They're not complete, because they still need to answer questions before the public," Molinelli said.